Axe falls on aid researchers

ALMOST a third of the staff at the Natural Resources Institute, the scientific arm of Britain's overseas aid programme, are to be made redundant. The institute is expected to be sold off before the end of the year by the Overseas Development Administration, which says the 140 posts must go if the institute is to break even and adapt to the new role being planned for it.

Rather than carrying out joint research on aid projects with individual countries, the ODA wants to focus on multilateral initiatives with bodies such as the World Bank. Staff at the Natural Resources Institute will work as managers and consultants on these projects rather than as bench scientists, says a spokeswoman for the ODA.

"We knew some cuts were coming, but we're amazed at the scale of the restructuring," says Steve Jary of the IPMS, the union that represents staff at the institute.

Jary ...

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